Speeches by Stafford.

“The fact that the taskforce has not even met, seven months later, tells us everything we need to know about how urgent and important the Government consider this issue. In Leeds, families are losing faith in the failing maternity services. The Secretary of State said that he takes the matter “extremely seriously”, yet …”

“He wants your job! [Laughter.]”

“Whose responsibility—I will not go as far as saying blame—was it that this information was not there? Is it NHS England? Is it the Department of Health and Social Care? Is it Ministers? Who needs to make that decision? Who needs to take responsibility for that?”

“Moving on—this is adjacent, in terms of access—during covid, we obviously set up vaccination centres absolutely everywhere: in schools, playgrounds, parks, car parks, buses and so on. Is that a model that could be used for delivering annual winter vaccinations? I am not talking about regular vaccines, but when we have …”

“No, you do not have to be polite.”

“What would you like to see that would enable community pharmacies to expand and be able to deliver more of a vaccine programme?”

“Greg, I will come to you in a second. Fin, do you have any reflections on what has happened this winter in terms of vaccinations, from your point of view?”

“I am moving on to talk about the access side. First, Mr McCaul, how effectively is the NHS using the capacity of community pharmacies to deliver vaccinations? What could be done to enable pharmacies to expand that role?”

“If someone had a magic wand or a bucketload of money, neither of which is true, but just imagine if it were—”

“I will press you on that slightly. Okay, I can see the argument for not necessarily having a pop-up in a car park, but is there not something about trying to get the vaccine programme as close to those people who are going to need it, especially in underserved areas? I am not trying to invent something, but could a bus…”

“Forgive me, Dr Kasstan-Dabush, I was expecting you to talk to me about your evidence to the covid-19 inquiry, where essentially you said that the vaccine rollout via outreach clinics would address inequalities of access. I seem to remember that was your evidence. Are you rolling back on that?”

“Thank you very much.”

“Yes, and that is why—don’t get me wrong; I would love to have this on the main Floor of the Chamber—given the panoply of stuff that you have, I would rather do this sooner. The general debate in Westminster Hall would be, “That this House has considered dentistry provision in England.””

“I am happy to go for a general title, if necessary.”

“I am keen for it to happen as soon as possible, and therefore I am happy to amend the title to something more generic if required.”

“I am happy to, although I do not know the exact titles of their debates. I am really keen to get into the contract and how we deal with that. If that is part of their debates, I would be happy to amalgamate. But I think this would be such a well-attended debate on dentistry. It depends on their angle and what exactly t…”

“Given reports from Norway and Denmark that Chinese-manufactured electric buses contain remote kill switch technology, and that the recent UK-China engagement appears to have delivered an embassy for the Chinese and little more than a Labubu for the United Kingdom, how can the Minister be confident that Chinese-made ene…”

“17. What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of energy infrastructure-related technologies imported from China on security.”

“I have taken a note of them, so I will speak to them as well. Helen Hayes made representations.”

“Thank you very much, Chair, and Committee. Thank you for hearing this application. On the key things, I would be very surprised if any member of the Committee, or indeed any Member of the House, did not have a postbag full of issues about access to dentistry. Dentistry is different. Unlike the rest of the NHS, first, a…”